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Philosophy
Philosophy is one of the five Leader attributes. A higher Philosophy score will help in enforcing moral and ethical doctrine and resisting the destabilizing influence of foreign ideologies as well as granting boons to the especially devout. Summary Holding philosophical gatherings, defining moral law and truths, or dealing with the heads or representatives of your ideology or those of others are broad purposes of Philosophy. Great Projects intended to draw the attentions of holy men, devoted scientists, and mystically or psionically talented individuals would fall under Philosophy. Philosophy represents a Stellar Power’s adherence to a higher code than civil law, as well as its general understanding of magic, psionics, or scientific parameters. Standard Actions: Conversion Each region contains one major Learning Center be it a church, school, monastic group, or monument to a particular individual or brand of thought. An Ideology’s influence is represented by its control of these centers. A player may attempt to take control of a Learning Center either in their own regions or in those controlled by other players. Roll 2d6 and add your Philosophy score plus any relevant bonuses. If the owner of the region wishes to try to stop the conversion, they should also roll 2d6+Philosophy and any relevant bonuses. If the converting player rolls higher, they take control of the learning center. If a player is trying to convert a center in their own region, or the region’s owner does not wish to oppose their conversion, they may still face opposition by the existing owners of the center. A conversion will be successful if it rolls higher than 12 (plus any relevant bonuses to resist conversion). You may Support attempts by other players to convert learning centers in regions you control, as a non-action. If you are attempting to Convert a vacant learning center in a region you control, or your Conversion attempt is Supported, your Zone of Influence penalty is reduced by one level. Opposing conversion is a non-action, but the player must specify that they are doing so in their actions post and make the roll. Players may attempt to wipe out followers of an Ideology in their region through use of military force by launching a Purge. If doing so, roll 2d6 and add Military score plus any relevant bonuses. If the result is 12 (taking into account any defensive bonuses) or higher, the Ideology loses control of that learning center, but control does not pass to the conquering player. The center is left vacant until converted, and the region may become unstable due to the violence of the action. Note that Purges are Military actions, but are listed here since they concern the Philosophy stat. If you do not wish to have a certain Assembly in your region you may attempt to replace it with a competing Assembly, or exterminate the Assembly through military means. To remove an Assembly militarily a leader must spend an action to Purge the Assembly destroying it and causing unrest in the region. Special Actions: Philosophy 5 Organize Assembly If you have a score of 5 in Philosophy and follow an Organized Ideology you can spend an action to establish a regional Assembly. These could be priests or monks bound to righteous cause, a board of learned scientists overseeing scientific output, or a collection of gifted individuals empowered by their belief in the ideology they espouse. A region can only support one Assembly, however an Assembly may be established in any region, even those you do not directly control, if the region’s local Learning Center already follows your Ideology. An Assembly counts as an additional learning center for purposes of achieving Unity or reaching numeric benchmarks. If an Assembly is present in a region it gives a +4 innate defensive bonus against conversions or purges to the region’s learning center which shares its Ideology. In addition Assemblies grant +4 to resist Caller Fragment theft when a Fragment is not in use during the round. Assemblies cannot be converted, but can be exterminated in a purge or replaced by another Philosophy 5 action. Spread Knowledge Make a Conversion roll for a Learning Center in either an unclaimed region, a region you control, or a region under another player's control that has given you non-action Support. For this roll, treat your Philosophy Stat as though it were a 5. If you fail, you still manage to convert your targeted region. If successful, you may attempt to convert (3) Adjacent regions (still with Philosophy set at 5). Technologies, Cultural Identities, etc. may boost this roll, but not your ruler's stats. Zone of Influence penalties do not affect the primary target, but the Adjacent regions of your choice are effected, unless Support is obtained for a targeted region. Obtaining a non-action support for an Adjacent regions attempted to be converted in this manner will remove the ZoI penalties for that Supported region. More than one region may receive Support in this manner. Cast Out If you have a score of 5 in Philosophy and are the Head of an Ideology, you may spend this special action to Cast Out a state that follows your religion. To do so the Head takes a Philosophy action targeting the Stellar Power identified to be Cast Out and makes an opposed Philosophy roll to eject them from the organization. The target may choose to take a Philosophy action of their own to oppose this act or concede to being Cast Out taking no action to resist. If the target resists other followers of the Ideology may choose to get involved taking Non-Actions to provide support to the Head or target conferring +1 to their supported side. Cast Out states receive no bonuses from religion they have been Cast Out from and will be at greater risk for negative events and Unrest in regions they control with that religion. This lasts until they either change state religion, which requires either a change of ruler or a Philosophy action and may cause Unrest, or the Ideology Head spends a Philosophy action to Reconcile with you, removing your Cast Out status. If you become the Religious Head, you automatically cease being Cast Out. Special Actions: Philosophy 10 Organize Ideology You may use a Philosophy 10 Special action to formally organize your Ideology. Your leader establishes a new Ideological branch separate from the authority of existing Ideology Heads. This may be a schism with an existing organized Ideology or a new Ideology of your own devising. Your leader is treated as the Head of this new Ideology by default, although you may designate another character as the head. Followers of organized Ideologies receive bonuses based on number of controlled learning centers. Setting organized ideology bonuses is one action per bonus. When using the Philosophy 10 action to Organize Ideology, the Organizer can establish the 5 Learning Center bonus as part of the Special Action, but 10 LC bonuses and higher must be separate actions. Those separate actions may be taken on the same turn as Organizing the Ideology, but the Ideology must qualify for those bonuses. In each region you control learning centers that do not follow this Ideology are automatically converted to the new Ideology. If you are Organizing a widespread Unorganized Ideology Learning Centers that already follow this Ideology will become members of your Organized version eager to receive the wisdom of a Power dedicated enough to bring organization to their beliefs. Although leaders may only take one Philosophy 10 Special action during their reigns, they can combine the organization of a new Ideology with a Miracle in a single action, in which case the Miracle is the event which triggers the establishment of the new Ideology. This Miracle like all others will be subject to Head GM approval. Miracle If you follow a recognized Ideology, you may request a miracle from the power that you worship, perform a Miracle using your understanding of spiritual or psionic energies, or pull off a miraculous feat of engineering or science that cannot be easily replicated. The miracle must fit with the Ideology you follow. Miracles can bless a Ideology’s Assemblies with greater power, uncover new or enhance existing resources, create artifacts or engines of power, or otherwise impact the galaxy in significant and unique ways. A Miracle may also grant individual characters such as Leaders or Generals increased abilities or strength, such as immortality or reincarnation or a bonus in certain types of rolls involving that individual. There is truly no limit on a Miracle’s possible utility although the size and belief system of an Ideology will define the parameters of any particular Miracle. Work with the GM to determine an appropriate representation of the Miracle you wish to perform. Ideological Unity If you have a score of 10 in Philosophy and your Ideology controls sufficient learning centers, you follow you may choose to elevate your Stellar Power’s standing to a more respected place through philosophical means. *15 or more learning centers belonging to the Ideology your Stellar Power follows allows you to declare your region a Ideological Power (IP). IPs may take a sixth, Philosophy only, action per round. You lose the title (and the action) if there are ever fewer than 15 learning centers owned by your Stellar Power’s Ideology. Merchant Powers may declare themselves IPs, in which case they gain no extra actions, but may choose whether the sixth action they take each round is Philosophy or Economy. Additional benefits to being a Merchant Power can be found in the Zone of Influence rules. Ideologies Unorganized Ideologies All Ideologies except “the One” adhered to by the Sisters of Silence begin Unorganized. An Unorganized Ideology is capable of converting learning centers using the rules for conversion listed below, and may be declared a Stellar Power Ideology but confers none of the mechanical bonuses associated with an Organized Ideology reaching numbers of learning centers controlled. Unorganized Ideologies cannot support Assemblies but can work as the basis to Ideological Unity, and perform Miracles. Lost Ideologies An Ideology that no longer has Learning Centers (LCs), if created by a player, has (2) turns from the round opener of it’s last lost LC to obtain a new LC. The attempt to convert an LC must come from a player who’s State Ideology is the “lost” Ideology, and they can only convert a region they own. Failure to do so in either (2) rounds will result in the Ideology being removed from the game at that time… and whatever the current Ideology is in the player’s capital becomes their new State Ideology, though the region enters Unrest. Unrest may be avoided if a Philosophy action is taken to accept a new State Ideology, rather then attempt to convert a region. Organized Ideologies Organizing an Ideology means you are that Ideology’s Head, establishing a set standard guiding the Ideology and have a measure of influence over Stellar Powers that follow your Ideology. If you ever change your official Ideology, you will lose your status as head of the Ideology, and any follower of that Ideology may spend a Ideology action to attempt to claim the status of Head. You may also step down from the position of Head as a non-action, and followers of your Ideology may compete for your former position taking a Ideology action to claim the title. Establishing Ideological authority is not necessarily easy, however, and functions like claiming a region, with some exceptions. Instead of rolling 2d6+Diplomacy, you roll 2d6+Philosophy, and the base TN required is increased by 2 unless you are the only remaining follower of the Ideology. If you are an Ideological Power of the associated Ideology, you get a +2 bonus on this roll. Each Stellar Power which follows the same Ideology and supports your claim also gives you a +2 bonus. When a new Ideology Head takes control, they may make a Philosophy roll to convert a Close LC as a non-action. This roll can still be opposed. Organized Ideologies give bonuses to followers defined by the Ideology Head when Organized or by a Ideology action taken by the Head subsequent to the organizing action; when an Organized Ideology reaches 5 learning centers controlled all followers gain a +1 bonus to a specific set of rolls selected by the Ideology Head, at 10 learning centers controlled all followers gain a shared CI determined by the Head, at 20 learning centers all followers gain a benefit equivalent to a Tier 1 technology negotiated by the Ideology Head with the GM/Tech Czar, at 40 learning centers a Tier 2 technological effect, and at 80 Learning Centers a Tier 3 technological effect. Further effects may be possible at 160 learning centers and 320. In addition to these numeric benchmarks the current largest Organized Ideology grants followers the ability to substitute the Head’s Philosophy score for their own once/round. These bonuses are lost if the Ideology no longer holds the relevant number of learning centers, though if enough learning centers are acquired again, no actions need to be spent for followers to reacquire the bonuses. It only takes a single Philosophy action to change the Stellar Power Ideology, but this can cause Unrest in Stellar Powers with significant followers of another Ideology. When claiming a vacant title of an Ideological Head - ie, no player has leadership of that Ideology - the base TN is 12. If you do not roll at least a 12, even when there is an existing Head, you will not trigger a contested roll. This represents the fact that changing billions if not trillions of minds is down right difficult. However… when a contested roll for a new Head of Ideology does occur, the highest roll wins. If there is an existing player for the Head of the Ideology, then their opposed roll is a non-action. In exchange, if the challenging player succeeds at claiming the title of Head, they may change an Organized Ideology Bonus tier, of their choice, as a non-action. This “free” change represent their new direction as the new Head of the Ideology. However, it only occurs if there was a previously existing Ideological Head. Category:Rules Category:Empire 5 Category:Philosophy Category:Philosophy Rules